For 3 days I watched you, practicing on the dirt of Churchill Downs, and again I was enamored. I tried to copy you, Luxor Cafe. For I believed you would take victory by the afternoon of May 3rd. I didn’t care if you had the same odds as me, if you were the 10th expected to win, I followed you because I believed.
Breaking 5th, I felt on top of the world, I didn’t even mind when East Avenue took me around the outside, I just knew that I was keeping up in the world’s most exciting 2 minutes of sports.
Entering turn 3, it started with Burnham Square. She spooked me, and I lost my footing. Then another racer, then another, then it was you. There was a wall, 5 wide, and it didn’t even matter, because even as I ran as hard as I could, I still couldn’t keep up with the pack in front of me. So I gave up.
In that moment, I realized something. Even in your defeat, I still couldn’t finish any better than you.